RALEIGH - A Wake County administrator has been fired and his supervisor demoted after an internal review of questionable travel expenses that included a whale-watching cruise off the Maine coast and four visits to Disney World.

Craig P. Wittig, recycling program manager for the solid waste management division, took at least 50 trips between his hiring in February 2006 and when his employment ended June 3, sometimes accompanied by his wife and two young children.

Five employees Wittig supervised also went on some outings, which included nights at a Las Vegas casino hotel and a visit to Yellowstone's Old Faithful geyser.

Collectively, the government workers charged $161,233 in travel costs and other expenses to credit cards issued by Wake County and paid for with public money. County officials would not say whether any of the expenses were merited, calling the issue a personnel matter.

"This just pains me and makes me mad," said County Manager David Cooke. "I can't defend anything they did. I'm not going to try to defend the trips. I'm not going to defend the purchases. To me, it was blatantly inappropriate."

Wittig, 37, was paid $61,190 a year to build what Cooke once called a world-class environmental education program. Wittig said Monday night that the trips and purchases were legitimate. No taxpayer money was involved, he said, because solid waste operations are paid for with fees collected from county landfills.

"There was a business purpose for everything I did," Wittig said.

His boss, Solid Waste Management Director James S. Reynolds, approved the trips and purchases, which included top-of-the line backpacking gear, a John Denver CD and a novel about elves.

County records show Reynolds, who has since been demoted as director of the county’s solid waste division, personally signed off on the trips and spending, including purchases of top-of-the line backpacking gear, a John Denver CD and a novel about elves. On Monday, county officials reported Reynolds’ salary in his new position as $94,973. On Tuesday, officials said his salary was reduced to $85,000.

Cooke said he was limited in how much he could say about a personnel issue. No criminal charges have been filed, though the county manager said that was still under consideration. County commissioners were informed of the continuing investigation Friday.

Traveling en masse

Records show Wittig worked at Bowling Green State University in Ohio when he was hired by Wake County. His county job duties included developing strategies to encourage schoolchildren to recycle and directing the anti-littering campaign Keep Wake County Beautiful. Wittig was also assigned to plan a proposed environmental education center at the recently closed North Wake Landfill.

In county documents, Wittig often cited the reasons for his extensive travel as attending conferences and visiting environmental education facilities to learn about programs that could be launched back home. To assist him, Wittig was often joined on the trips by three program coordinators and two executive assistants working for him.

Members of an "advisory committee" composed of Wake public school teachers also went on some trips.

Exactly how much the trips cost is difficult to calculate because they were paid for using purchasing cards issued by Wake County to its employees. One employee might charge the airfare for the group to one card, while another might charge hotel rooms or a rented van.

An example is a week-long trip to Maine last summer attended by 17 people.

Records show Wittig was accompanied by four county employees. A dozen Wake teachers also attended, their expenses paid with county money.

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